Last Thursday, thousands of beleaguered Metro Manilans were shoveling layers of mud off their living room floors when pictures from the Cagayan Valley began appearing on their social media sites. As in Marikina, they saw northern fellow sufferers perched high on rooftops awaiting rescue from the three-meter-high inundation. Television screens captured dramatic scenes of men and women pushing through chest-high floods, carrying a child or a valued household item on their head or shoulders. Anything that could float became a makeshift boat - from surfboards to styrofoam containers to door-less refrigerators. The luckier among affected Metro Manila residents only had to contend with the loss of water, electricity, and internet. Predictably, the much-touted Filipino resilience was hailed as our saving grace, but angry voices rejected that as government's excuse for its failure to respond appropriately. Why is this happening? Yet again?